FALLOUT: NEW ERA
by Raven Thornheart
Summary: It's the year 2327, but the nation is still dangerous as ever as Tai Mason must survive to find out secrets of his father's shadowy past with the Brotherhood of Steel.  Original Characters!
1. A New Day

**FALLOUT: NEW ERA  
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My name is Tai Mason, son of Richard Mason…

When I was young my father would tell me of stories about the soldiers of the nation that was once called The United States of America. Of course he learned of these stories through his father and pre-war books. He told me that there were soldiers and then there were warriors, men who were born into warriors on the battlefield, warriors who lived on the battlefield, legends that died on the battlefield...

The nuclear war of 2077 that tore the great nation of America apart happened three hundred and fifty years ago. Humanity preserved itself amazing and in times of desperation, heroes emerged from the radioactive wastes of this land and saved countless lives. Some that were noted as the most important were the success in the Capitol Wasteland, now called Washington D.C. again. It was at the end of the year 2277 the irradiated waters of D.C. were finally purified and saved the slowly dwindling civilization of the area and soon the rest of the dying nation. Another breakthrough happened in 2305 when the Brotherhood of Steel organized and succeeded in Project Unity, setting up communication, transport checkpoints and safe routes from Western America to the East and from the South into the North. The last great achievement was the resurrection of the Television in 2325.

Still, the lands of America are unlawful and treacherous. Raiders and slavers still have a strong influence across the nation. The Midwest of America is the most dangerous as it was hit the hardest in the nuclear war. Most life was lost and any still there has been dangerously radiated and mutated to survive its hostile conditions. Men sent in to investigate the area never come back and those that survive came back as feral ghouls. Colorado, Wyoming, South Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Iowa and Missouri are now called the Dead States.

This is my story of survival…

March, 12th 2327

Tai's eyes slowly opened to the rusty with daylight slipping through the rusted holes. He could see the dust and dirt drift through the air as he laid on his dirty sunken mattress. It was another day in his life of survival. His ears picked up the sound of a small female voice filled with innocence. He turned his head over to his TV to see the smiling face of Millie, a young girl who came on TV everyday to update anyone in the Alleghany area of dangers, news or events. Her cherry red hair and smile helped people around the area make it day to day. Tai thought of it to be amazing with the reinvention of the TV how much of a difference it would make it everyone's lives.

Tai sat up from his lousy bed and stretched his sore muscles. He had restocked his refrigerator yesterday after a long week of heavy hunting. He knew the area like the back of his hand as he was born and raised in the area. His sturdy shack was located in Monroeville, Pennsylvania in a place called Evergreen Park. It was something of an ironic name now as everything that was green was barren and dead. Rows of half destroyed homes could be seen from his hilltop home. To the south of his home was a baseball field and further from that an soccer field that overlooked Evergreen Elementary. Past that in the far distance was the Miracle Mile Shopping Center. The Brotherhood set the Center up as a resupply checkpoint for those traveling through Route 22 or the turnpike.

Even with the brotherhood around the area, they weren't the police. He lost his mother when his was four in a super mutant attack that caught his family off guard. He lost his father then his was sixteen to slavers that came from Plum. He was nineteen now, still surviving on his own. Thankfully his father trained him for the day that he would find himself alone ever since he was eleven.

Tai looked over at the pictures of his family. Two pictures, one of his father, one of his mother. Two more pictures were beside those, one of his mother and father together holding him when he was an infant and the other of him and his father on the week that he died. He missed them dearly, but he had to continue to push on day to day.

Tai made his way into his small bathroom and gazed at his reflection in the dirty mirror. His shoulder length black hair was in a mess and his green eyes showed signs of fatigue. He also noticed that he had gotten a nice tan while being out in the sun for long periods of time hunting. He stood at 5'10 and weighed a lean hundred and sixty seven pounds. His body was well defined from all the years of hard work to make it day to day.

"_Whoa, Joey…watch that mine."_

Tai's eyes shifted to his window as he heard multiple voices outside of his house. He saw six figures twenty five yards away from his home, all armed and they didn't look friendly. "Shit." He cursed under his breath as he rushed back into his bedroom and reached under his bed to grab his sawed off shotgun, checking it to find two slug shells loaded within it. It had been a couple months since unfriendly intruders came around…

…and every time they did, none make it away alive…

"_Be on your toes fellas, with this many mines here someone doesn't want us to get to this house." _One of the raiders said.

"_That means there must be somethin' good inside." _

Tai quickly moved into his dingy living room and checked his traps to make sure they were set. It was about to get messy, fast. He could hear them right outside the windows of his home as his heart started pumping adrenaline through his veins.

"_Mack, take the other window…" _

Tai heard the window in his bedroom being opened and a slight grin crept upon his face…

Mack slowly opened the window and looked into the small bedroom to see no one. He held his 10mm pistol close as he hopped up onto the ledge and began to lean into the window. His eyes caught sunlight reflecting off a string at the last second before his body applied pressure to it. Suddenly it snapped and he heard something metallic unlock.

Rick watched his fellow raider Mack climb into the window, but out of the blue he was hurled back and with him came a car engine. Mack landed and his skull was viciously crushed under the large engine with a sickening crunch. "Shit! Mack!" Rick yelled.

Johnny was just half way in the living room window when he heard Rick's horrid scream. "What the…?" He felt a wire on his chest and a sudden snap of the wire. "Shi-!"

Joey was behind Johnny, but his attention turned to the sudden screams from Rick on the side of the shack. His head turned back when Johnny tried to push himself out the window and was only half successful, meaning only the bottom half of Johnny made it out after a guillotine came down from the top of the window. "Fuck!" Joey screamed in disgust as he watched Johnny's entrails slip from the window seal onto the dusty ground.

Gabe and Steve heard the commotion from the front door. "Shit, whoever it is they're dealing with the others so we can catch them off guard!" Gabe said as he pumped his shotgun. He quickly opened the door as it swung to the outside of the shack. Gabe caught sight of Tai and raised his shotgun. "GOT YOU NOW!"

Tai looked back at Gabe and quickly slipped into his bedroom as the door was right across from the front door as the shotgun fired. Tai felt a sharp pinching pain in his arm as he was caught with some of the buckshot. "Ahh…"

"I hurt em-!" Gabe said triumphantly as he took a step into the shack.

Steve followed behind and heard the snap of a wire. Suddenly Gabe's right arm and most of the right side of his head was gone in a violent blast from a rigged shotgun on the side of the door. It was a trap that did its job and more. Steve was shocked to the point where he couldn't more or react as he looked down the barrel of a shotgun after Gabe's body crumpled to the floor. A slug ripped through his left thigh dropping him to one knee. "AAAHHHH!" He screamed in agony as he looked up once more and saw a flash.

Tai sent the last slug into Steve's face and watched everything above his jaw turn into a fleshy jelly and spew onto his front porch. "Four down, two to go." He said to himself as he looked down to reload his shotgun.

Rick rushed around to the front of the house, meeting with Joey at the same time. They both saw what was left of Steve, but knew they had to act quick to catch the person responsible off guard. Rick pulled out his .45 revolver and took a glance in the front door to see Tai reloading his shotgun. He took aim and had Tai, dead bang.

_**BANG!**_

Tai felt sharp sting across his cheek as he heard the .45 go off. He dropped his shotgun in retreat to avoid anymore gunfire. He cursed himself in his head for being careless, but thanked lady luck for being on his side.

Rick tried to fire again, but the trigger was freely swinging back and forth. "Fuck!" He cursed as his weapon broke at the wrong time. He threw the weapon down and pulled out a lead pipe, rushing in at Tai. "You're dead! You're fuckin' dead!" Rick yelled as he tried to swing down on Tai, but Tai shot upward catching his hand. "Shit!" He yelled as he was flipped, landing hard on the back of his head.

Tai quickly turned to see the last raider Joey, rushing in at him with a rusty combat knife ready to kill. In one swift motion Tai pulled out his knife and impaled Joey's wrist with the knife hand. Joey's wrist stuck a wooden beam forcing him to drop the knife. Tai caught the falling knife, spun and forcefully stuck it deep into Joey's skull, leaving him to hang from the beam.

Rick's fingers clutched around the pipe once more as he pushed himself up from the ground and turned to see Joey's lifeless body dangling from the beam. _"I-I was only down for a second…Joey…"_ His fearful eyes met with Tai's dark murderous gaze. Five guys against one man and they all get wiped out except for one and now things. Rick's fear drove him as he rushed at Tai once more and swung.

Tai pulled out another knife and caught Rick's wrist once more and slid under the inside of his arm pulling it with him, forcing Rick into a hammerlock. He kicked the back of Rick's knee to drop him to a kneeling posistion and held the knife to his neck. Tai had the last raider in his last moments and it was a feeling that he had become used to.

"Ahh…I didn't believe…" Rick said through the pain feeling Tai's grip and pressure on the lock loosen. "Raider's for awhile…said…not to come around…Evergreen…"

"What are you talking about?" Tai seethed.

"We thought…something of value…something great was here…because of so many that never came back."

"Yeah, I'm protecting something valuable here…My life."

"Not…pleading for my life…" Rick said with a slight nervous chuckle. "But they tell stories about you…They call you a ghost. A man when seen disappears in an instant… You kill without hesitation…"

"Looks like I'm hesitating…'

"I'm…kinda glad that's not true with me." Rick chuckled once more, but stopped when the knife pressed against his neck more. "Wait…Just let me go and I'll tell the other raiders to stay away. No one will want to come here ever again after I tell them about this. I swear…"

"…Alright." Tai said as he pulled away. "Get out of here."

Rick looked back slowly. "R-really?"

"Yeah." Tai said as he holstered his knife.

"W-wow…" Rick stood up. "I tell everyone to steer clear of here! I swear!" Rick said as he backed out the shack. He lost five good comrades, but still held his life and he couldn't be happier as he stepped back outside.

"There's only one problem…" Tai said as he watched Rick stop and turn to face him. "How did you hear about this place?"

"…From a buddy of mine."

"How did he hear about it?"

"Uh…from someone he knows?"

"The last guy I let go went and told people to not come up here, but that didn't stop you guys. So how about keep everyone wondering about what happened to you and your crew?"

"No…Please don't…" Rick said as he felt his heart drop into his stomach. On instinct he turned and took off running as fast as he could toward the baseball field. With every step he felt freedom come closer and closer.

Tai pulled out a detonator and watched Rick run. "Consider yourself lucky as you don't know you're already dead." He said as he squeezed the detonator. Rick suddenly disappeared in a poof of black smoke. Tai had slid a plastic explosive charge in his pocket before letting him back to his feet.

Once more there was silence…

Dead silence…

_xxxx_

Kayla Rose closed the door on the transport truck after clearing it for further transport. She pressed on her radio. "Alright Bolwen, these trucks are green. Let em' through." She said with a thumps up to the Turnpike tower. She wiped the sweat from her forehead as she looked out at the Miracle Mile shopping center which was a Brotherhood base now, filled with barracks and a large armory. The rest past that was still being renovated, but once past a bridge at the other end of town it was unsafe for anyone as raiders controlled the urban areas surrounding Pittsburgh.

Kayla walked toward the processing building, a small one floor building that held information on traveling vehicles and status reports from other checkpoints. It had been a long twelve hour shift as most of the post was on patrol for mutants or hazardous wild life.

She opened the doors and felt the cool conditioned air hit her. The marvels of man were many, but mankind only found a few so far and in a new world such as this one, new inventions were always innovative and helpful for survival in the wastelands. "Another shift in the books," Kayla said as she wiped beading sweat from her forehead. "Can't wait to see home."

"Lucky you Kayla," Said a young Knight sitting in a cubicle wearing desert camouflage. "I have to stay here for another six hours processing all this data."

"Sucks to be you Lance." Kayla chuckled. "Just be happy that you get to sit in a nice air conditioned office for six hours and not in the sun doing transport checks and patrol for twelve."

"No…that's tomorrow." He sighed as he continued to type in data on the computer. "By the way, when do I get to take you on a date?"

Kayla stopped and looked back at him. "A date?" She said a bit taken back. "And where do we go on this…date? Oh, I know! Let's take our sniper rifles to upper Pitcairn and pop off some Super Mutant heads!"

"Not what I had in mind for a date."

"Oh…me either." Kayla said with a chuckle as she made her way to the locker room in the back of the office. She walked into the room to see some of the day shift Knights already gearing up. The room filled with sexy whistles and chants from the men. "Oh hush guys!" She called out with a smile as she made her way to the locker. "Enjoy the show, as you guys always do."

She opened her locker and looked at herself in the mirror placed on the inside of the door. Her brown chestnut hair fell as she pulled it out of the bun. She eagerly took off her Xa-21 armor and her desert camo. She look another look at her fit curvy body in the mirror once more and knew the men in the room were looking as well, but she didn't care. Kayla knew her looks caught the eyes of men.

Kayla took off her bra and underwear with a grin as now she really caught everyone's attention in the locker room, but it was just another day as she made her way into the showers. She turned on the warm water and felt the soothing stream ease her tense body. "Ahh…" She let out as she relaxed. She looked over as another shower was turned on and saw the lean body of another fellow soldier.

His body was well build with every detailed muscle visible and his black wavy hair slicked backwards as the water hit him. Kayla knew him as the only man that she would love to date and get close to, but couldn't.

His name was Kaz Kudak, one of the highest regarded knights in the Brotherhood. Two years ago he was a vibrant young man full of jokes and laughs. Back then he had two other brothers that kept him company, but then a super mutant attack happened. That was a year ago and from then on he stopped laughing and joking. He wasn't even serious, as he really didn't care for life that much anymore. Kaz was still one of the best, but he was distant from everyone.

Kayla didn't know how to explain it as maybe he didn't care for anyone or didn't want to get close to anyone as he would be afraid to lose them too and feel that same hurt all over again. "Hey Kaz," Kayla called out as she caught his attention. His blue eyes met hers and didn't wander as every man's would. Kayla's eyes on the other hand took in every bit of him physique. "Why don't ya cheer up?"

Kaz shrugged his soldiers and continued to clean himself up. Kayla's eyes came across the scars on his body, all of them from that fateful attack. He was a warrior alright, but maybe that's what attracted her most to him. Most men held a sense of honor and duty to the brotherhood, but would always try and hit on her. Kaz was different though. No matter how many passes Kayla would try on him, he wasn't interested. He never said it out loud, he just never showed any feelings toward anything she'd say and it would drive her crazy.

"_I guess I'm not used to a man telling me no or not giving me his full attention." _Kayla thought, but then again it was a challenge.

And boy did she love a challenge.

XXXX

It was a little after noon, with the sun still high in the air and the heat barring down on the dry dusty park...

Tai had finished cleaning up the last bit of blood in his shack after hours of cleaning. Still the stains of blood didn't leave his hands and the smell of blood and gun powder still lingered in the air. Death was an everyday thing in the world still and not just death, but killing. He remembered his first kill when he was twelve as a three bandits attacked his father. He remembered how he plunged the combat knife deep into the neck of the unsuspecting bandit. How the warm thick blood covered his hands and how the bandit wouldn't die easily even in his final moments he clung to life...

_"Life..." _He thought to himself as it was a funny word to him. When he lost his parents he wondered why his body moved on it's own to survive even as his mind still missed them dearly, he would get up and hunt and kill and live...Still his time would have to come too, but he would probably kill a lot more before he met his demise.

"When will this end? How many people have to...?" Tai stopped in mid sentance as he looked out his door into the distance as a girl came into sight, slowly and wearily stumbling toward the shack. As she came into view he could see the tired look on her dirty face, as if she had been running for hours. _"This could be a trap..." _He sighed as he stood up and grabbed a lever action rifle that was leaning near the front door. He took a step out onto his makeshift porch and took aim.

The girl didn't stop coming toward, her pace picked up as his blurry figure came into her view. "Stop right there or you will die!" He shouted as he knew he had mines set up, but the girl didn't stop. "Did you hear me?" He yelled in rising anger. "Stop or you're gonna get yourself killed!" Still the girl kept moving. "Shit!" He said as he saw her running toward a mine. Tai adjusted his aim and fired, setting off the mine. It threw dust and dirt into the air and the girl fell on her backside looking at him in shock.

"Hey, dumbass! Didn't I tell you to stop or you were going to die? Geez, you'd think a gun pointed at you would stop you!" Tai shouted as he lowered his gun and took a look at the girl. She was a young blonde girl with short hair and green bright eyes. Tai was taken back by her looks as he hadn't seen a good looking female in a long time. "What are you doing out this way alone? It's safer around route twenty two..." He said, but his eyes caught something behind the girl. To the naked untrained eye it would be nearly impossible to see, but Tai's perception was top notch. "Cloaks..."

Tai cranked the lever and took aim. His shot rang true as it nailed a thick fleshed target and he heard a roar that made his heart sink into his stomach. The cloak deactivated to show a green hulking mutant with a rocket launcher. Three others behind him appeared, one with a mini-gun and two with large pipes. "Oh shit..." Tai said breathlessly as the mutant with the rocket launcher took aim. Time seemed to slow down as the rocket was fired. Tai's feet moved on their own forward as the rocket passed him and went into his shack.

**BOOM!**

Tai felt the heat and shockwave throw him forward as his home was obliterated with a single rocket. He hit the ground and heard multiple motion detectors going off as he knew he landed in his mine field. Quickly he slapped four mines in less than two seconds, with the last mine only having half a second left before it would have gone off setting off the rest and leaving Tai looking like a pile of chewed bubble gum. Tai looked up at the girl who was locked eye to eye with the mutant, almost as if the girl was their target. "HEY!" Tai screamed as he caught her attention. "Run as fast as you can to me! NOW!" He barked as he took cranked the rifle and fired, hitting the rocket mutant again in it's thick head, but the .22 calibur round only stunned the moster for a second.

The girl quickly scrambled and barely escaped the reach of the rocket mutant was he was furious. It quickly gave chase as the girl ran toward Tai. Tai could only hope the girl was fast enough as she came into range of more mines. The motion detectors went off as she ran past them, feeling the explosive force push her forward, but she kept her feet under her as she had to...One trip and it was over.

The mutant behind the girl caught the blasts fully as his legs were cut and battered as it made it's chase, roaring in pain as it pushed through the explosions. "Come on!" Tai yelled as he backed up as the girl ran toward him. He cranked the lever on the rifle and took aim at the group of mines he deactivated. "One chance..." He said as sweat dripped from his nose. He fired as she cleared the mines setting them off, leaving the mutant to disappear in a poof of thick red mist. Thick chunks of flesh and muscle pelted the ground.

For a few moments it was peaceful in Tai's eyes...But all that would end soon. The dust settled as the view of what was left of mutant, it's upper halve was only left with entrails splattered all around. Tai soon heard the roars of the fellow mutants as they saw their dead comrade. "Shit..." He cursed as he looked at the girl who was still laying face first on the ground. He grabbed the back of her dingy white shirt and pulled her up as the sound of the minigun spooling up. "Hey girly! We ain't safe yet! Get up!" He yelled as he pulled her up to her feet and yanked her behind a pile of sheet metal as the minigun's thunderous sound filled the air and bullets pelted Tai's cover.

The girl cried in fear as she covered her head. Tai looked at her for a second and saw her long wavy black hair and blue eyes. She was beautiful..._"Not the time for that now Tai!" _His mind screamed at him as he focused back on the matter at hand. Suddenly he heard the sound of the two pipe armed mutants coming as the gunfire died down. "Shit...Shit..." He looked at the girl. "They want you...Not me..."

The two mutants stepped up to the destroyed shack cautiously, with weapons ready to kill. "Rahh..." One mutant grunted as he peered over the cover the two humans were hiding behind. The girl looked up to the two with eyes filled with fear. "Only human...Where other human?" The monster questioned as he looked around.

The minigun mutant looked on waiting for death, but only saw it's comrades with the girl they had come for. "No other human?" It said out loud as it looked on. Suddenly it felt something jump on it's back and then a sharp pain in it's neck as blood spurted from a deep gash. Tai appeared on it's back as he gashed the neck of the mutant open. He had grabbed the still intact cloak from dead mutant earlier.

"Bet you didn't see this coming...Ya big dumb son of a bitch!" He yelled as he drove the knife into the mutant's neck at the end of his cut, feeling the thick dark crimson blood drench his hand.

Tai landed on his feet as the mutant fell, gurgling with every attempt to breathe. "And another one bites the dust!" He said in semi-victory as he heard the mutants roar in anger. Quickly Tai grabbed the minigun and used all of his strength to lift the heavy gun. "Hey girly!" He yelled out as the frightened girl looked at him. "Duck!" He screamed as the minigun spooled up. The recoil was insane, but he did his best to hold it together as the bullets hit the ground leading up to the mutants.

The girl's eyes widened as she ducked quickly. She could hear the screams of the mutants and the sound of the bullets pelting their skin. She suddenly felt warm and wet as she as the mutants fell to the ground with a sound solid _thud_. The sound of the wind came to her ear as she opened her eyes to see her arms and hands covered in blood. "I...I'm alive...?"

"Yeah, you are..."

The girl looked up to see Tai looking at her with seriousness in his eyes. His dingy, sweaty toned figure stood over her on a pile of rubble. "Now...I have no where to live..." He seethed, but not in anger...

The girl looked and saw a blood stain on his white beater around his lower right abdomin. The stain was getting bigger, meaning the wound was bleeding and badly at that. "You're...hurt..." She said timidly.

"Screw that..." He seethed once more. "Mutant's chasing...a...girl. They destroy my home...now I need..." Suddenly Tai was looking at two girl's as if they were twins...Then things started getting blurry as he tried his best to focus. "To know..." He looked up at the sun, blinding himself. "...Fuck it..."

Blackness...

XXXX

It was evening as the warm wind blew dust down the cracked road in front of Kaz's rebuilt house. It was settled on the outskirts of a housing plan called Garden City. Kaz sat on his roof gazing at the clouds in the sky. Rain only came three times a year showing that mother nature is skilled enough to bounce back from any damage that mankind could do. Kaz took a slow pull from the cigarette that hung from his mouth.

"Mmm...Marlboro's..." Kayla said as she sat next to Kaz and gazed at the sky as well. She had gotten him to agree to let her come and hang out, claiming that she was always bored at her place, in which she was. Re-runs of TV shows from the pre-war era were boring as she couldn't stand another Ed Sullivan Show. "Pretty good cigarettes...must have cost ya a pretty cap or two."

"Nah, found a carton on some dead dried up corpse down the street from here." He said as he handed her a pack without looking. "Poor bastard."

"Thanks!" Kayla replied as she began to pack the red and white box. "So...Why do you live outside the wire? I mean you could end up getting yourself killed. Anyone could come here and you'd be alone with no help."

"Hasn't happened yet." Kaz replied with another drag. "Hell, raiders or anyone else doesn't come this close to the wire in fear of getting blasted on the spot. Anyways Yates has a sniper post two hundred meters from here and he's facing this direction. He would radio me if he saw trouble coming from a mile away."

"Always got your ass covered as usual."

"Kept me alive so far..."

Kayla smiled as she knew he was one to always be ready for anything. Kaz was quick whitted and should have been a Brother Hood Paladin, but he turned down the spot to stay with his unit here. "Oh..." Kayla said as she pulled out her cargo bag and opened it. "I made you some food when I got home..." She pulled out a box and handed it to Kaz.

Kaz sat up as he smelt the instantly delicious smelling food. He looked at Kayla and then the box as it was handed to him. "Thanks Kayla...you didn't have to..."

"Well, I would think you'd get tired of eating those stale rations command always gives us." She said with a smile. "Open it."

Kaz opened the box to see brahmin streak with rice and seasoned potatoes. "Oh...my...god..." He gasped. "How did you get rice and potatoes? This is..."

"Expensive? Yeah, I know, but I also have a friend that works in the greenhouse plantation so they sent me a sack of potatoes and rice. I thought you deserved a hot meal."

Kaz picked up one of the potatoes and took a bite. His mouth burst into a flavorful frenzy as he chewed. "Mmmm...This is incredible Kayla!" He said with a smile as he took another bite.

"I know..." Kayla said as she finally saw him smile for the first time in forever...He sure was handsome and it made her feel good that she could get him to smile like that.

Kaz closed the box and sat it down next to him as he looked at Kayla with a smile still on his face. "It's been awhile since I enjoyed myself...Thanks Kayla, I'll eat the rest later."

"Oh no problem and if you ever want a hot meal, just come to my place or ask me!"

"Heh, I bet you do this for all the guys on post huh?"

Kayla took off the plastic to the pack of cigarettes and opened them. "Nope, just for you." She said as she lit one up. "Ahhh...Heaven..."

"...Why me though?" Kaz asked as he looked back up at the sky.

"Kaz, I don't know if you are dumb or playing dumb, but you know I do like you right?"

Kaz looked at Kayla once more seeing the sly interested look in her eyes. "Geez...Kinda blunt aren't we?"

"I don't fuck around."

Kaz chuckled. "Ahh...I see. Yeah I knew you did...I just...I just don't like getting close to people ya' know? Out here people can die at anytime and I feel like if I'm not close to them then I won't be affected as much..."

"Because of your brothers, huh?" Kayla said with a drag of the cigarette.

"...Yeah..." Kaz said with a drag of his as he pushed the memories to the side which was always easier said than done.

"Well I'm not going to let you do this stupid lonely thing anymore...That and I would like to have a boyfriend sometime because this powder puff single shit has got to go." Kayla said with a slight chuckle.

"You're more of a man than most at this post with how aggressive you are."

"What do you expect? Someone fucks with us and I gotta blow their head clean off. I'm sure you don't find too many simple woman that do that." She replied with a smile. "Hell, when you're a woman...out here you have to have a bigger set of balls than men just to survive."

"I hear that."

_"Hey Kaz, heads up."_ The reciever blared as Kaz turned to it and picked it up.

"What's up Yates?"

_"Two people coming your way...Looks like a girl dragging someone...Three O'clock."_

Kaz stood up and took a look down the road as Kayla stood next to him looking out as well. He could make them out pretty well from the distance. "A girl dragging a guy..."

"We should help them..."

"Ehh...It could be a trap." Kaz said as he grabbed his bolt action rifle and made his way to the ramp on the side of his house. Kayla unshouldered her assault rifle and followed as they came out front and cautiously made their way down the street toward the two.

"I hope there's no snipers out here..."

"Nah, Yate's could pick out and off anyone within range of the shitty rifles any raider or psyco could have." Kaz replied as he took aim at the two. "Halt!" He called out as he saw the girl stop and look at him with tired eyes. "This is brotherhood territory, state you business."

"Th-This boy...he's hurt badly and needs help."

Kaz's eyes shifted to the boy, who was unconcious and covered in dirt and blood. "Hmm...Alright." He grunted as he shouldered his rifle and walked up to the two and took hold of the boy. He looked back at Kayla. "Kayla, get the first aid kit in my house ready."

"Right!" Kayla called out as she turned and quickly made her way back to Kaz's house.

Kaz carried the boy along toward the house with some help from the girl. Once they were inside Kaz set the boy on his bed as Kayla came down with the first aid kit. "Looks like a bullet wound, lower abdomin." He said as Kayla grabbed some scissors and cut the boy's shirt off.

"I don't have medical skills to remove a bullet..." Kayla said as she looked at Kaz.

"Me either..." He said as he thought of what to do.

"I..." The girl timidly called out from behind the two. Kaz and Kayla looked back at her. "I can take out the bullet."

"Well get to it, you brought him." Kaz ordered as he handed her the first aid kit. The girl stepped up to him and slowly took the kit and began to work, preparing everything she needed.

XXXX

Tai could feel himself floating in darkness as his mind opened up to memories of his mother and father. Flashes of happy times when him and his dad would hang around and play silly games. Suddenly the fun times disappeared and he was alone again. The sudden change weighed on his heart and soul as he felt pain shooting up his side.

_"H-hey..."_

He questioned the life he was giving and survived through. What was the point of living? To Tai is was all worthless when his parents had died, but he knew his father taught him everything he knew to live on...

_"Take it easy..."_

More than just to live on...His father taught him how to not only hunt, but how to kill a man. How to break bones and disable people. How to sneak around without being seen and how to pick pocket. He even taught him how to use basic explosives...

_"Hey...you're going to hurt yourself..."_

Maybe his father wanted him to do more than live...?

Tai's world of darkness suddenly was filled with light as he sat up, but with that sudden movement his right side lit up in burning pain. "Ahhh..." He winced as he held his side, which to his surprise was bandaged. He looked at himself as he was topless and cleaned up from the blood and grime. His eyes shifted up and around the decent sized room with dressers and a TV. The air inside the room was cool and moist...Refreshing.

_"Shit...the last thing I remember is that...girl..." _Tai thought as he felt the battle he went through was only a few minutes ago, but it was night now as he looked out the window. "This area...This is the edge of 22..." Tai quickly looked at the door as someone walked in. It was a man and woman with the girl behind them.

"Ah, you're awake." The woman said as she walked up to Tai. "Hungry?" She asked as she handed him a plate of hot steak, rice and potatoes.

Tai looked up at her in confusion, but he quickly ignored his confusion and went for the food. He started devouring it, filling his mouth to where we could harly chew. _"My god this is the best food I've had since..." _He stopped for a second. _"Mom..." _

"Geez, you'd think he hadn't eaten for days." The man said as he pulled up a chair for the woman and himself. "Now, do you have a name kid?"

"I ain't a kid..." Tai sneered. "And the name is Tai...Tai Mason." He replied as he continued to eat, savioring every bite.

"Well Tai, my name is Kaz Kudak and this woman here is."

"Kayla Rose." Kayla said as she looked at Tai. "You're friend here told us about you...and I'll admit that, that is an incredible feat. One person to take on three mutants and only come away with a bullet to the gut is amazing."

"One..." Tai said as he stopped eating. "She is _not _my friend. Two, I live to survive and three, I have some questions to ask her." He said as his eyes shifted to the girl who seemed to move behind Kaz a bit. "What the hell where those mutants after you for? I lost my home and nearly my life because of you!"

The girl closed her eyes as she could hear the hatred in his tone. "I-I'm...sorry...They wanted to eat me..."

"How can you blame her?" Kaz said as he caught Tai's attention. "If I'm not mistaken, she said you fired at them...Meaning you meant to save her, so the blame is one you." Tai looked at him and then looked away. "And even more so, you saw them even with cloaks on."

"Which brings us to our questions..." Kayla added. "Are you military?"

Tai grinned proudly. "Heh, better than military..." He looked at them. "I'm a survivor."

"...Okay..." Kayla said in confusion.

"Where did you pick up your skills?" Kaz asked.

"My father...He taught me everything I know and after he died the wastes honed my skills."

"That's amazing how you can see cloaks with just you're eyes...Our power armor has a hard time catching cloaked enemies." Kayla said as she looked at Tai's facial expression change.

"Power armor?" Tai said as he looked at the two. "You guys are brotherhood?"

Kaz and Kayla both nodded.

"Great...First my house gets blown to shit, I get shot and then wake up in Brotherhood territory." Tai said with a sigh.

"What's wrong with us?" Kayla asked.

"No offense to you personally, but my father was in the Brotherhood."

"What was his rank?"

"Shadow Paladin of the Twelve Peers."

"Holy shit..." Kaz gasped in amazement. "That explains the skills you have if your father taught you."

"Shadow Paladin of the Twelve Peers?" Kayla asked as she looked at Kaz.

"The Twelve Peers are twelve of the top Brotherhood Knights who work directly under the High Elder. They're special forces, but they are extremely dangerous as every Paladin has specific traits and skills that allow them to be utilized in certain missions." Kaz looked at Tai. "Your father's skills were that of stealth and recon. No wonder you could see those cloaks, he trained your eyes to pick up on anything and everything. He probably taught you all the basics to a Brotherhood soldier and then added the spec ops training."

"Right on." Tai nodded.

"Why did your father leave the brotherhood?" Kayla asked as she looked at him.

"I don't know...He never said why. Maybe 'cuz he had me and my mom to look out for?"

"He could have kept you guys on base, unless he wanted out, but even still we would have given him a safe place to stay."

"Does it really matter now? He's dead." Tai looked over at the girl. "By the way, I never got your name."

The girl looked at him, but shifted her eyes to the side. "My name is Lily."

"Where are you from Lily?" Kaz asked as he turned to her.

"I-I was a slave...In the Pitts, but I escaped with my brother...we got seperated around Edgewood..."

"And you made it all the way out here?"

"Well...I was captured in Edgewood by some slavers...I thought I was going back to the Pitts, but...they took me to Turtle Creek...but were attacked by mutants and the slaves were taken to Pitcairn. Most were eaten and I was next, but I escaped when they left me alone for a minute...I made my way here...but they kept chasing me..."

"How did you cross 22?"

"I snuck across during the night and thought I was safe until the mutants appeared and I ran again...I made it to where I met him."

"And that's when I lost everything." Tai said as he set his plate on the table next to the bed.

"I'm sorry..."

"Sorry won't bring my home back."

"Hey don't blame her." Kayla intervened. "It's not her fault...She was trying to survive like you." Kayla stood up. "I gotta report this to command to beef up patrol if you and three mutants crossed over 22 without us noticing." She said as she began to walk out. "I'll be back in the morning to check up on you." She said as she left.

Kaz looked at Tai as he stood. "I've got night patrol. Feel free to make yourself at home since you lost yours." He looked at Lily. "Take care of him alright?"

"Al-alright..." She said timidly as Kaz walked out closing the door behind him. She looked at Tai who was laid back looking at the sky out the window. "I-I'm truly sorry about-"

"Save it..." Tai said as he continued to look at the creeping night sky. "...It's not your fault...I guess I just didn't want to blame fate. If anything I'm sorry for blaming you." He looked over at her. "I'm going to get some sleep so you don't have to stay by me."

"C-can I? Stay by you?"

"I mean, you can if you want to."

"I-it's just that...I haven't felt safe...until I met you..." She said as her eyes shifted away again.

"Well, I guess that's alright then." Tai said as he slowly laid back and relaxed. He smiled some. "I'm glad that you at least feel safe."


	2. The Son of a Paladin

The route 22 checkpoint was busy as usual during the night watch as Kayla made her way toward the command building. Music could be heard with laughter and profane remarks coming from the bar as the men usually liked to get drunk after getting off of shift. She waved to a few Knights, smoking a cigarette outside the bar. Monroeville was a nice checkpoint area with two dining places and a few bars for the civilian population and Knights as well.

Still Tai's story of fending off the super mutants still amazed her along with his family ties to the Brotherhood's top Special Forces. Her training was hard enough, but she couldn't begin to imagine the type of training Tai had gone through.

Kayla stepped into the small two story brick building, feeling the cool air wash over her. She was standing in a small lobby with another female sitting at a desk at the far end of the room, typing information on a computer. "Another graveyard shift Marsha?" Kayla said as she walked up to the desk.

Marsha looked up and cracked a smile through her tired expression. Her red hair was done up nicely as always. "Yeah, I pulled a double today because Tiffany was sick."

"Bullshit, she's too busy blowing Lt. Barnes." Both of them laughed after the smart statement. "Ahh, but anyways." Kayla said. "Who's in command as of the moment?"

"Commander Watson."

"Geez, long day not to put any Lt's on duty, must've been busy. May I see him? It's about something he might know more about."

"Sure, just head up. He should be at his desk going over paper work. You were always one of his favorites around here."

"That's because I _actually _do work as in; out in the baking sun for twelve hours and not in a nice cooled office, but hey...you look cute."

Marsha chuckled with a grin. "Nope, trust me its work today. I gotta do everyone's pay and inventory...This is gonna be fun."

"How 'bout you add a few extra bucks into my check? Thanks!"

"How 'bout they just fire me now and kick me out into the wasteland? No thanks."

Kayla chuckled once more. "I'll catch you later." She said as she walked up a short flight of stairs and opened a door to the commander's office. The office was a decent size filled with maps, filling cabinets, pictures and other items of importance. Commander Watson sat in his chair looking at a pile of papers and maps. He was the top commander of the checkpoint as he received his orders from Elder Thompson, one of the four Elder's. "Commander."

Watson looked up. His green dull eyes met with Kayla's. He was aging well as he still held a sense of a ready Knight, willing to still go into battle if need be. "Oh, Kayla it's nice to see you. What can I do for you?"

"Well we have a problem that needs to be looked at around here." She said as she walked up and took a seat in front of the desk.

"And this problem is?"

"Today Kaz took into his home a girl and a boy. The boy was wounded with a bullet in his stomach, but he survived. The girl had been running from super mutants from Pitcairn. The problem is that she and the mutants crossed 22 without us noticing."

"Hmmm..." Watson rubbed his grey beard in thought. "That is a problem. I'm thinking more patrols will have to be set up. We can't be having people and especially mutants crossing over without us noticing..."

"Also the boy that was wounded is a Tai Mason, son of Richard Mason a former Paladin of the Brotherhood."

Watson's eyes lit up and his facial expression became serious. "Are you sure of this?" He questioned eagerly.

"Y-yeah." Kayla replied, worried about the situation. "He killed three super mutants alone, no power armor or anything."

"This boy is extremely dangerous..." Watson stood up from his chair. "Thank you for reporting this Kayla, I need to get some men together and capture this boy."

Kayla stood as well. "But sir, he is no threat to us."

"Kayla this situation has nothing to do with you, as of right now you are dismissed." Watson said as he walked over to a radio.

"Wha-wait, hold on." Kayla insisted. "What are you going to do? He hasn't done anything wrong."

"He has information regarding a top secret matter that I cannot further explain to you. Now return to your quarters Miss Rose." Watson said in a cold blunt manner.

Kayla tried to think of what the boy could know, but it was useless to try and figure it out with nothing to go on. "Yes sir..." She said as she turned and made her way out of the office, thinking to herself. _"Whatever that was about, it doesn't seem to be good for that kid..." _

xxxx

Lily had found her way to the couch in front of the TV, which was playing one of her favorite shows she got to see when only having a few hours in between 'shifts' for the slaves. I Love Lucy was like a dream land to her as she wished she was the house wife of a handsome man, in a beautiful home and a busy city...It seemed like it was from a different world, as in a sense it was.

Lily's world was stripped from her at the age of seventeen as she grew up in a small town south of the Pitts called Upper St. Clair. Her mother was the head doctor of the town and taught Lily medical skills since she could remember. She grew up helping the wounded and sick as the town would take in outsiders and escaped slaves, but soon the slavers found out about the town and saw nothing but mass profit. Her world was soon turned upside down when they came, killing those who fought, raping all the women and taking everything anyone ever had. Families were broken up and sold, but her and her brother went to the Pitts together only to escape four years later.

"Luke..." She said softly as to not wake Tai. Her brother was always by her side, a father figure when they had no father. Their mother would never speak of him, but they had each other even through the hard times. Still they were separated after they she was recaptured..._"He could be dead..." _Her mind thought, but she quickly forced those thoughts to the side and focused on I Love Lucy once more.

She was still glad to be free from the harsh slavers in the Pitts. She also found it horrible that even with the Brotherhood of Steel taking command of key areas around the state of Pa, they traded with the Pitt slavers in order to gain the steel needed for armor and other industry. It seemed the slavery was the best way to keep people working and the slavers with caps in their pockets.

Lily looked over as Tai sat up and picked his head up as if he sensed something. She could see the look on his face as he was focusing his senses. His eyes shifted side to side and he looked at her. "Company..." He said and almost as if he knew, then suddenly...the house went pitch black.

Outside of the house, one of the knights had severed the power to the house and looked back at Commander Watson. "Power's gone sir. The house is black."

"Good." Watson said as he looked at the dark windows. "Two teams of two, team one through the front, team two through the back, the rest stay out here and make sure he doesn't slip out. We need him alive, but he is very dangerous. Proceed with extreme caution."

The knights silently nodded and proceeded to group up and infiltrate the sound. The power armored knights moved in the front door quickly, scanning the room with NVGs. "Clear..." The point knight called out as he looked over at the other group making their way out the kitchen.

"Kitchen is clear. Head up to the second floor and we'll hold the living room." The other group's point man ordered.

"Right." He said as he made his way up stairs with his team behind him, his shotgun focused in front of him with buckshot load. Still, he had to capture the target. The group made it up to the hallway. The point man signaled to the other two knights to check the other room and bathroom. They nodded and moved to the other rooms. The point man took his backup to a door and looked at him. His backup man nodded as the point man kicked in the door and the backup man stepped in aiming at a girl with something in her hand.

"What the hell?" The backup knight said as he looked at her light green figure through the NVGs. The point man came in aiming as well, but dropped his aim when he saw the girl. "This isn't our target..."

"What's that in her hand-AH!" The point man's vision turned a blinding white as both knights were blinded by the flashlight in Lily's hands.

Tai rolled out from behind the door, baring his combat knife. "Power armor..." He said as he rushed in and sliced the back of the backup knight's power armor, cutting its coolant supply. Quickly he rushed at the point man, coming in low like a football player and drove upward catching the point man off guard driving him back.

"WHAA!" The point man yelled as he tried to catch his footing, but Tai sent a leg behind him and forced his head backwards toward the ground, sending him directly onto his neck. His body went numb after a loud _CRACK. _

Tai's slick Judo takedown on the point man left him with a broken neck after he heard the sound of it snapping. Tai looked back at the backup Knight he the Knight tried to move, but the suit was already overheating. "Shit!" The Knight yelled as he hit the emergency armor drop, dropping the thick armor plating allowing him to move freely again. He quickly took his helmet off and looked over at his fallen comrade, but Tai wasn't there. "What the fuck?" He said in confusion and looked over at the girl. "A flashlight? How the-?" Something caught his eye on the side as he looked, but a sudden flash left him in darkness.

Lily cringed as she watched Tai blow the Knight's head clean off with the shotgun he picked up from the point man. Blood, hair, skull fragments, teeth and mushy brain matter sprinkled all onto the wall. Tai looked down at the Knight. "...The fuck are they doing-" Quickly Tai took aim at another Knight that suddenly appeared in the doorway, but the Knight grabbed the shotgun and Tai by the throat. Tai felt his feet leave the floor as his breathing was cut in half by the tight grip of the Knight. Pain shot up his body as a punch landed hard into his wounded stomach. Suddenly he was weightless as he was thrown back landing next to Lily.

Lily gasped as she watched Tai hit the floor hard moaning in pain. She could see his bandaged wound start bleeding through the patch job. "Tai!" She called out as she dropped to his side and looked at the Knights. She had never seen anything like them...They were like monsters in her eyes.

"Jesus..." The Knight said as his backup Knight came in after him. "How the hell did he take out two Knights with Power Armor?" He looked at the tags of the headless Knight. "Damnit...Reynolds..." He looked at Tai. "He was a good soldier...You're lucky we have to take you alive..." The Knight seethed in anger.

"F-fuuucckkk..." Tai groaned as his whole body thrived in pain. He looked at the Knights in anger. "W-what do you want?"

Outside Kaz made his way up to the yard of his home with Kayla, but they were stopped by two knights guarding the area. "What's going on here?" Kaz demanded to know.

"Matters that do not concern you Kaz..." One of the Knights said Kaz looked at the name plate.

"Gains..." Kaz said as he looked up. "This is my house, so I'm sure it does concern me Gains."

"Kaz, back down." The other Knight pleaded. Kaz could tell from his voice it was J.D. Scott, a kind Knight. "Look the guy you brought is very dangerous and is wanted by the Brotherhood."

"Hey!" Gains yelled at Scott. "We aren't supposed to give out ANY information."

"That kid is skilled, but he's not a threat." Kayla said as she saw Commander Watson walk up.

"Kaz and Kayla." Watson said calmly. "Kaz I'm sorry about this mess and any damage to your home will be repaired out of the Brotherhood's pocket. We have the situation under control and you will be given a reward for the capture of a high value target. One of the top wanted on our list. I'm sure you will get a promotion, meaning more caps and a bonus."

"You hear that Kaz?" Gains added. "You're a hero; now move along somewhere else with your girlfriend."

"Fuck you Gains." Kayla spat.

"Don't make me tell you again slut, leave." Gains said as he stepped up. Kayla didn't back down, but without power armor she was powerless to do anything.

Everyone's attention turned to the house as the front door swung open and Tai was tossed down the short steps onto the dusty ground with the Knights aiming at him. "Sir we have one dead and one in critical condition, we'll need a vehicle for transport of Gromola...I think this punk broke his neck. Reynolds's will need a closed casket and his brains scraped off the wall."

_"One dead and the other with a broken neck?" _Kayla's mind exploded in amazement. _"How does someone with no armor take out two of ours with armor? This kid is something serious." _

One of the knights pulled out the girl from the house and sent her to the ground next to Tai. "We also found this girl."

"Well done Knights..." Watson said. "Secure them both and take them to the holding area for interrogation."

Tai felt his body ravage in pain once more as a Knight sent a brutal kick into his wounded stomach again. Tai yelped in pain as Lily quickly made her way over to him. "Please stop hurting him!" She cried as tears streamed down her face. "He didn't do anything to you! Why are you doing this?"

"L-let her...-g-go." Tai spoke through the pulsating pain. "She doesn't...k-know anything...I'm your guy you st-stupid fucks..." Tai yelped in pain as another boot nailed him in the back. The pain was intense as his body strained.

"Stop it!" Lily cried out.

"We'll take the girl." Kayla said as Watson turned to her. "She doesn't know anything as this boy only saved her today."

"...Fine." Watson said as he turned to the Knights. "Take the boy, leave the girl and call in for MTs.

Tai was pulled to his feet and dragged away by two Knights as Lily tried to hold onto his leg, but lost her grip. "No, please...He didn't do anything! Why are you doing this?" Kayla quickly made her way to Lily and comforted her by hugging her close. "Please don't let them hurt him anymore..." She sobbed. Tai in her eyes was the closest thing to safety she had felt in a while.

"What's going to happen to him Commander?" Kaz asked as he watched the injured Tai being dragged around the corner and up the road out of sight.

"Interrogation on matters of high importance."

"Are you going to kill him?"

"That's up to him." Watson said coldly as he followed the rest of the Knights leaving the area. He stopped and looked back. "Take the night off Kaz. You'll be given you're new rank in a few days' time." He continued to walk on.

"...Shit." Kaz said as he looked over at Lily and Kayla.

xxxx

Kaz stood in the guest bedroom of his house and looked at the gore on the wall along side with Kayla. They both couldn't believe that someone could take on two men without armor. The armor was designed to give the user equipment and safety in the field.

"One kid..." Kayla said in awe as she looked at Gromola.

"Ahh..." Gromola groaned as the medical team prepped to move him. "K-Kaz..."

Kaz took a long drag of his cigarette as he looked at the helpless sight of Gromola. "How did this happen?"

"That girl...Blinded us with a flash light...The little prick knew we were using NVGs...How many wasteland punks know about NVGs?"

"This kid is different..."

"Too bad I know now...They say I won't be able to move anymore...Broken neck and all..."

"I'm sure we can still take care of you. You'll just be doing a lot more paper work"

They both chuckled.

"Yeah...But this kid tossed me, even with my armor on. Flipped me right on my neck." He groaned once more with the throbbing on his head. "I had to weigh three fifty tops with that armor on, but he caught me off guard...That isn't any regular kid."

"He's the son of a Paladin."

"That explains a lot..." The medical teams lifted the stretcher and rolled him out. "See ya later Kaz..." Gromola's weak voice called out before fading quickly.

Kayla looked at Kaz. "What do you think's gonna happen to him?"

Kaz took another long drag and thought. "...I don't know, but our methods of interrogation are never pretty."

xxxx

Sweat dripped from Tai's nose as he looked at the spackles of blood on the floor. His arms were tied behind a chair and his head hung low, throbbing in pain. Suddenly a white flash and then the sore sensation of a well landed right hook from a man in fatigues. Tai's head snapped to the side from the blow, sending more blood onto a nearby wall. Once again Tai's head hung, his breathing becoming heavy with pain and frustration.

"So are you going to tell us where the key is?" Asked another fatigue wearing knight who kept in the shadows. "Cus' I got all night with you buddy..." The knight taunted as he rubbed his knuckles.

"And I'll keep telling you...I don't know anything about no fuckin' key..." Another flash and pain from a back fist. Tai felt blood pour from his nose and his eyes water. "Mmm...Fuck!" He groaned. Once they brought him in, they wasted no time in letting him know that they meant business with assaulting him violently.

"You know what the fuck we're talking about. Just give us the key or where it's located and you're free to go." The knight in the shadows said with authority. "We don't have to do this the hard way, come on."

"And what I'm trying to tell you and that I don't know about no fuckin key. I've lived in a motha fuckin' shanty shack! Why the fuck would I need a-" Another flash and then pain. "...I'm so going to kill you when I get outta here."

"You and what army?" Asked the hulking Knight as he got in Tai's face, only to be met with a slew of spit and blood. The Knight stood back up and calmly wiped his face before sending another blow to Tai's face, this one nearly knocking him out.

"Alright Nicks, we do need him alive until he tells us where that key is. Let's wait for a while and let him think about it." One of the other Knights called out.

"I'll be back..." Nicks warned Tai before walking out with the rest of the Knights.

In the lobby of the holding area Kayla and Lily walk in. To Lily it was a cold enclosed like facility with grey walls and bland furnishings. The only good thing about these places was the air conditioning. Something she only felt a few times in her life and still amazed her to this day. Lily followed close behind Kayla as she saw the eyes of the guarding Knights lock onto her. Kayla stepped up to the desk to see a young Knight with his power armor on, but his helmet off. "Myers." Kayla said getting the attention of the Knight as he looked up.

"Hey, what's up Kay?" Myers said with a smile.

"Nothin' much. I have this girl here who would like to see the new prisoner."

"He's a HVT. No visitation allowed." Myers replied. "Sorry."

"Come on Myers, that boy saved this girls life." Kayla said as she let Lily step up. "This girl has no one and she at least wants to say thank you."

"Kayla..."

"Please...Just do it this one time for me?" Kayla asked with a girly manner.

"Ehh..." Myers sighed. "Alright, but she has to get checked over at the gate. Go down the hall, make a left and he's at the end."

"Thank you Myers!" Kayla said as she led Lily over to the side of the lobby where a Knight stood in front of a barred door. "Simmons."

"Miss Rose." Simmons replied as he looked at Lily. "She's going in?"

"Yep."

"Alright." Simmons said as he stepped up to Lily. He could see she was nervous of his presence. "I have to pat you down for hidden items or weapons. Excuse my hands." He said as he began to pat Lily up and down. After a quick search he found nothing. "Alrighty, you're good to go."

"Here's my things." Kayla said as she gave him her 9mm handgun and combat knife.

"Alright," Simmons turned to the front desk. "Clear to open!" He called out as a loud buzz came to ear and the sounds of the locks unlocking.

Kayla opened the door and led Lily along through a long corridor with multiple rooms. Lily could hear crying and some screaming from all angles of the place. It was horrible to her, but she had seen worse. They turned down another hallway and stopped at the door. "I hope he's okay." Lily said.

Tai looked up slowly, ready for more punishment when he saw Kayla and Lily. Lily's face turned serious when she saw how badly they had beaten Tai. Quickly she rushed up to him. "Tai...Are you okay?" She asked in worry.

"What does it matter to you?" He spat back at her in anger catching her off guard.

"Hey, calm down we're here to see if you were alright." Kayla said as she walked up. "Those Knights didn't take it easy on you as I can tell..."

"Fuck you both..." Tai replied as he looked at them. "This was a set up...You both set me up. I wouldn't be in this situation if it wasn't for you both..."

"No...No we didn't...we wouldn't..." Lily tried to defend as she ran up to Tai and wrapped her arms around him and hugged him tightly. Tai was surprised, but felt something small fall into his hand. Lily came close to his ear. "Get out...and I will meet where we first met..." She said as she pulled away.

_"Mother fucking Myers..." _A distant voice came from the corridor with other voices behind it. Kayla turned around to see Nicks and another Knight marching up to the room quickly. "Rose! This is a restricted area! I can have you locked up!"

Kayla stepped to the side as she looked at Nicks. "This girl only wanted to thank him for saving her life before she wouldn't see him again."

Nicks stepped into the room and looked at the girl. "Well I hope she said it already." Nicks turned to Tai. "Cus' this fucker is..."

Suddenly Tai sprung up into the air in a front layout. In midair he grabbed Nicks head and violently twisted as he twirled in the air, breaking his neck. The Knight behind Nicks was in shock and awe, but it cost him as Tai landed on his shoulder, wrapping his arm around the Knights neck and using his momentum to snap his head back, breaking his neck as well.

Kayla couldn't move as she saw two Knights taken out with ease and grace that she's never seen before. Tai landed perfectly and his murderous eyes landed on Kayla. Kayla's instincts kicked in as he tried to grab her, but her hand to hand combat training came full blown as she met him and tried to Judo hip toss him. Still Tai's skillful agility allowed him to aerial and roll with the momentum, pulling Kayla into an armbar. Kayla hit the ground and felt the pressure applied to her elbow, but she was able to slip free from the lock. Tai quickly switched up his leg positioning and wrapped them around her neck, locking in a tight triangle choke.

Kayla was in a deadly spot now and losing oxygen to the brain. She had leverage to pick him up, but as soon as she tried she felt him hit the back of her knee with a fist, dropping her to the ground once more, this time deeper into the choke. A blackish grey started to set in as her head felt hollow.

"Stop it...Stop it!" Lily yelled as she came and tried pulling on Tai's arm. She could see the look in Tai's eyes; it was one of fearlessness and a subtle rage. "Tai stop it!" She screamed as she slapped him.

Suddenly it was like Tai snapped back to reality as he let go of the hold and slid back, letting Kayla collapse face first onto the floor. He looked at Lily and saw her crying. "I-I'm sorry..." He uttered. He was lost in the moment and didn't know what he was doing; his mind and body acting to only survive. "Eh...Meet me back at Evergreen...If you aren't there in five hours, I'm gone." He quickly searched Kayla and found what he needed as the pain of his previous injuries started to set in; a stimpak. He quickly stuck himself and felt the adrenaline of the shot kick in almost instantly.

Tai looked at the doorway as he heard more Knights coming, his instincts were about to kick back in. "Five hours or I'm gone..." He said with determination in his eyes as sweat rolled down his face.

Tai took off as Lily watched him take off down the hall and turn it. Soon after loud screams and gunfire was heard and then dying screams. Lily looked at Kayla and tried to shake her awake, but she was out cold.

xxxx

Kaz jolted from his sleep as the alarms sounded around the area. Instinctively he grabbed his rifle and looked around as if there was an attack. "What the hell?" He said as he grabbed his radio. "Yates, what's the alarm?"

_"That guy you picked up...He escaped...Word on the radio is that he took out ten Knights so far and we can't find him." _

Kaz's eyes widened at the sound of ten Knights dead from one man. "Are you serious?"

_"I don't know what kind of guy this is you brought here, but he's...Shit I got him in my sights..."_

Kaz heard Yates fire multiple shots. "Did you get him?"

_"Fuck! How does someone move like that? No, he's headed north!" _

"Shit, keep in touch Yates...And switch to a private feq!"

_"What?"_

Kaz quickly made his way off his roof and into his house. "Just do as I say, I'm going to track him." Kaz opened his closet in his living room to revel a recon power armor suit. "I'm going to see about this kid..."

xxxx

Kayla's vision slowly came too as she found herself in a bed. It was the local clinic with sounds of moans and screams of pain. Last thing she remembered was Tai snapping out and nearly killing her. "Shit..."

"Shit it right Miss Rose." A voice said next to her as she looked over to see Watson. "You come into a redistricted area to meet our HVT who I told you to stay away from. You directly disobeyed my orders and somehow our target has gotten away with killing ten of our men and wounding a dozen more..." Watson grabbed Kayla's shirt and yanked her close. "How the fuck do you explain yourself, Miss Rose?" Watson seethed in anger as his eyes burned with rage.

"Uh...Uhh...Th-The girl that came with him...she wanted to see him again...That's all. I had nothing more to do with it than that...H-he nearly killed me..."

"Girl? The one from the house?"

"Y-yeah, she wanted to thank him for saving her..."

"By saving him..." Watson let Kayla go and thought about the girl. "Shit...She tricked you." Watson looked at Kayla. "You should have known better...but I will let that go for now...Where is that girl?"

"I-I don't know sir...Tai...He attacked so suddenly and quickly that it caught me off guard. He put me out somehow after taking out Nicks and Homan. Hell...I'm lucky to be here..."

"We have to find that girl...She might know where he's going." Watson quickly stormed off.

Kayla looked around still trying to gather her senses. She slipped out of the bed and stood up, she was a little woozy, but nothing she couldn't handle. She looked around the large room at knights in pain in the beds. Most were wounded with gashes and cuts. All of these men from one boy...Knights who were trained to handle the harshest enemies of the wastes and he was able to take them out with ease...

She almost felt as if it was her fault and maybe Tai was a serious threat to the Knights. Still it bothered her; he was only provoked into defending himself and escaping. She had to find Kaz and figure things out.

xxxx

Tai had made it back to his ruined shack and salvaged most of what he could find, stuffing it into a backpack. He was armed now with a pump shotgun, a 9mm handgun and combat knife. He found a few stimpaks, but laced his arm with a super stimpak that gave him a steady but safe dose of the stimulant to help heal his bullet wound and other picked up injuries plus numb any pain. It was his emergency stimpak, but now was an emergency.

He was in the process of digging up his father's grave. It took him about thirty minutes of hard digging, but he finally hit the coffin. "Bout time...Sorry dad, but this is what you would want..." Tai said, brushing the sweat from his brow. He jumped in the hole and slowly opened the casket to the sight of his father's skeleton. Memories flashed by of the times when he was alive and well...Tai pushed them back for another day as he grabbed the necklace from his father's neck and placed it in his pocket. "I wish I had time to bury you dad...but those Knight will be here soon...Love you..."

Tai climbed back out and stood, taking a deep breath. He snapped around with his handgun drawn aiming at Lily, who had her hands up in defense. "S-Sorry...I didn't m-mean to startle you..." She said timidly.

Tai lowered his aim and looked at her. "...I guess I outta' thank you for helpin' me out back there."

"You saved my life, so it was only right."

A smirk came on Tai's face, but he pulled his handgun up and fired. Lily froze as the bullet missed her by inches, but she saw that he didn't miss but hit someone behind her.

A Knight Armor suit appeared out of the blue with the Knight holding up his rifle in surrender. "You _are _good..."

"Recon Power Armor?" Tai said as he never had seen one of the suits in person.

"And you know you're armor." The Knight said as he took off his helmet to show it was Kaz. "Thankfully that was a nine...a .40 and up would rip through his armor."

Tai looked at Lily. "Dumbass, you were followed."

"Don't blame her, only someone with senses like you could've known I was in the area." Kaz said as he shouldered his rifle. "But I'm not here to kill you."

"Oh, but your sniper buddy is ready to put one in me from way over there at any moment you give the signal huh?"

Kaz stood there stunned at the fact that he knew Yates was scoping him, hell if there was a sense of danger Kaz would have given him a sign to pop him. "Well you know the whole plan...Impressive."

"Tell him his scope is reflecting off the moonlight, I can see him flashin' me."

Kaz paused and pressed his radio. "Yates...Tai here says your scope is flashing him..."

_"...Shit..."_

"Look, you seem to be out of the loop from the rest of the Knights meaning to the higher ranks you ain't shit...No offense." Tai said, getting down to business.

"None taken."

"I have something of great importance and power that my father left me in charge to take care of. I thought it would have been forgotten...I should have known better."

"What is it that you have?"

"Sorry, but I can't tell you. You are still a Knight..."

"Look, maybe we can help you."

"I just killed about ten of you guys and wounded a dozen more; the only thing right now the brotherhood will help me with is a slow death." Tai looked around. "You only had one sniper?"

"Yeah."

"Shit..." Tai said as his teeth clenched as he saw multiple scope reflections. "Looks like things are going to get complicated..." He looked at Kaz. "At least for you."

The wind blew across the land as Kaz could hear in the radio chatter that the snipers see him, but don't know it's him. _"They aren't aware of Yates..." _"Looks like they were on to you..." The situation was sticky for Kaz...He wasn't sure of Tai's intentions, but so far they didn't seem harmful...More like trying to avoid conflict. His decision at this point was one or the other...

"It was only a matter of time..." Tai said as he reached into his backpack and pulled out a canister. "Make your choice..." He said as he pulled the pin. "Shit is about to hit the fan, tenfold."

Kaz slipped his helmet back on and turned on the temp regulator for his suit, which started making his suit unreadable by thermal. "Yates, pop a shot near me." _"This is fucking insane..." _He thought.

_"What? What are you talking about; there are Knights all around me I'm not tryin to..."_

"Do as I say Yates, I'll keep in touch..."

Tai tossed the canister behind Kaz. It made a loud pop noise before spewing smoke, soon after that a bullet hit the ground next to Kaz. "Lily, hit the ground!" Tai called out as everyone hit the deck as bullets started flying through the smoke.

"Hot smoke, eh? Damn you're good." Kaz called out as he could hear a squad leader over the radio calling for a cease fire.

"Always be ready for someone with better equipment with smarter equipment." Tai called back. He noticed the fire power died down. "Move!" He yelled as they quickly scrambled to their feet and took off running toward a half fallen in house that was 70 yards away.

"What's the plan? We can't out run them!" Kaz yelled as he followed closely, keeping an eye on Lily who kept up.

"Shut up and follow my lead!" Tai said as he ran across the small front yard of the house and pulled open the garage. The moonlight showed a black armor plated pickup truck. "Hello baby..."

"Holy shit..." Kaz said in awe.

"Quick, hop in the back!" Tai said as he got in the front with Lily and pulled down the visor to find the keys. Kaz jumped in the back as the truck roared to life and pulled off quickly, but something came to Tai's ears.

Kaz heard it as well and knew what it was. "Shit, we got a chopper on us!" He yelled up front as Tai turned a corner, forcing him to hold on to the side.

"I've got a TSAM back there! Use it!"

"What?" Kaz looked under a tarp to find the launcher. "You expect me to fire on my own?" As soon as that was said bullets pelted the truck, almost hitting Kaz! "Fuck! That's a 40 Cal!"

"Well, I didn't expect you before, but after that maybe you'll think about it?" Tai yelled back.

"Fuck that!" Kaz grabbed the TSAM and turned on the locking monitor, taking aim. "Come on, come on..." He could hear the chopper gunner spooling up again. He heard the flat line and fired. The rocket flew at an angle then turned and found the rotor of the chopper, sending it spiraling out of control and into the ground.

"Looks like you're good for something!" Tai yelled back as he took another turn.

"Fuck you!" Kaz said as he sat back. "I might have killed someone I knew..."

Lily looked at Tai in worry. "Where are we going now?"

"To a friend of mine..."

xxxx

"What the fuck do you mean you lost them?" Watson growled in anger at the Knight. "We may never find him again...I want every available unit heading that direction. Make a report on the local broadcasting stations, TV and radio. The Knights are offering a reward of 250,000 new dollars or 130,000 caps to whoever provides us with information in the capture of Tai Mason."

"Sir!" The Knight said in taking the command and quickly made his way off.

It was three in the morning and it was already a long night to Watson. After hearing about Richard Mason's son being alive and running like that, he had the key that he heard Elder Azure talk about to his close commanders. It was of great importants and could put him in a great standing with Elder Azure and possible Elder position in the future to control what goes on in the North Eastern part of America.

"And a recon power armor suit getting away with them?" He rubbed his beard as he thought about it. "An inside job? No with the skills that boy had, he didn't need someone on the inside...I guess we'll just see who's M.I.A. from the base in the morning..."

Another female Knight stepped into the room. "Sir, we have a total of fifteen dead and thirty wounded...Are you sure we weren't attacked?"

Watson sighed deeply as he looked at the Knight. "No, it was one boy."

"A boy...sir?"

"Did I stutter?"

The Knight tensed up. "N-no sir."

Watson relaxed in his chair. "He's highly skilled as you can see. A serious threat to our organization..."


	3. Enclave Alive!

It was 5:34am but Kayla was wide awake, sitting in her apartment. She was watching TV, but not paying attention to it...Her mind was on Tai. The numbers of death and wounded was staggering, the worst it's been since the last mutant attack years ago. She took a drag of her cigarette and rested her head back on the head rest of her recliner. "...Fuck."

Kayla turned her head to her door as she heard someone knocking. "Come in, it's unlocked."

The door opened and Yates walked in. Kayla didn't see Yates much as their shifts were always opposite, but this was a surprise. "Sorry to bother you Kayla." He said as he took a seat on her couch near her chair.

"N-no problem Yates, what's up?" She replied as she looked at him. Yates was a pretty handsome fellow, sporting shaggy blonde hair and deep blue eyes. He was a lean built man, but right now he was concerned about something that had to do with Kayla.

"...I don't know how to say this, but..." Yates sighed. "I helped that boy get away..."

Kayla's eyes grew wide. "What? You helped him?"

"Not intentionally and it wasn't my idea in the first place." He defended as he looked at Kayla. "Kaz ran off with him..."

Kayla's mind tried to wrap around what was being said, but she couldn't understand. "But...But he killed our men...Kaz wouldn't just run off with the enemy."

"That's the thing Kayla...I don't think this boy is our enemy, because he would have killed Kaz...Not run off with him. I was covering Kaz from a distance, but still that boy was able to see my scope reflection. Him and Kaz started talking, but other snipers were up on them in no time. Still...that boy seems to always be five moves ahead. He used IR smoke to cover his position and pretty much disappeared. Him, Kaz and that girl..."

"...Kaz...What are you thinking?" Kayla said as she took another drag.

"Still, we can get in contact with him. He's using a coded feq on his suit's com."

Kayla looked at Yates. "Well let's get in contact!"

"Not yet..." Yates said cutting her off. "The base is on high alert and I'm sure they are looking for signals between the base and him, even on a coded feq they won't know what's being said they can pick up some form of suspicious transmitting."

"So what do we do? We can't just leave him out there..."

"Well I have a friend a ways from here...There's just one thing..."

"...And that is...?"

"...He's a raider..."

"...Seriously? You're gonna go into a raider camp and use their radio?"

"We are..."

"...Oh my god Yates you are fucking crazy."

"Hear me out here." Yates pleaded. "He's the leader of them and we go back...I once was a part of his gang before I joined, so we are welcomed."

"You used to be a raider?"

Yates sighed. "I had...a rough past...The leader's name is Glenn Sandridge. Me and him grew up together in Uniontown, but we lost our parents to disease. It was me and him...robbing caravans. Soon we met up with others and it was history from then. Fourteen years of survival."

"Well...what made you leave?"

"...I couldn't kill for any reason anymore. Glenn was always colder than me given his warm demeanor...Hell I still have nightmares of seeing the people I killed. He understood, but I couldn't stay even though he wanted me to. So I joined the Brotherhood, but I still keep in touch."

"Well I'm off duty until ordered so I take it they are giving me the three day medical recovery days for minimal injuries. We'll go around noon. Where are they located?"

"Freeport area, right now they're getting money, food and other supplies from one of the Freeport villages for protection."

"Pay raiders for protection?"

"They are cheaper than mercs and usually have connections with other raiders around the area so they do help. It makes it easier to live and less violent, something I think Glenn wanted."

"Well we'll have to take a buggy out there." Kayla took another drag of her cigarette before putting it out in a Nuka-Cola bottle. "I'll pull a favor from Nardy at the sallyport for one of his MG buggies and a decent outfit of weapons and supplies. We can't take the turnpike as we aren't on leave."

"Let's just hope I got some say in that area still…"

xxxx

Tai pulled up to a patched up building on the riverside of the Alleghany River. It was just getting light outside as he turned off the truck and stepped out with Lily and Kaz.

"Where are we?" Lily asked as she stepped around the truck to Tai.

"Oakmont, this is my friend Rex's place."

"And how can he help us?" Kaz asked.

"He has some equipment that we could use."

"To do what? Take on the whole Brotherhood of Steel?"

"They need us alive…or me at least." Tai said as he made his way to the front door of the building.

"I need some answers…" Kaz said sternly as he followed.

"And answers you'll get in time." Tai responded as he knocked on the door.

A brief moment passed before a voice called out from the other side. "Who is it at this time in the mornin'?" A voice called out from behind the door.

"Rex, its Tai Mason." Tai called back.

"Well I'll be…" The door opened to a young African American man in greased stained dickies and a dingy beater. "Tai! What brings you to my doorstep at this time of the mornin'?

Tai stepped in, bringin in his company with him. "I need some help."

Rex checked out Kaz and Lily. "You know it's not like of you to have friends besides me…" Rex closed the door and walked over to his kitchen. "What's this about?"

"It's about the key…" Tai said as he sat down on a stool and looked at Rex as Rex's face turned serious.

"The key? H-how did they find you?"

"Mutant attack and I get wounded and Lily over here drags me to this guy's house and I make the dumb move of giving them my name." Tai sighed. "Next thing you know I'm getting interrogated about the key…"

"Well I guess it was only a matter of time before they found you…"

"What's this key you're talkin' about?" Kaz asked as he looked at Tai.

"Rex." Tai said as he looked at Rex.

Rex looked at Kaz as he pulled his coffee off the coffee maker. "The key is just what it is, a key, but this key is special. It's the key to an underground silo bunker that contains the secrets of the bombs that created this hell we live in today; the key to atomic energy."

"And that means?"

"Come on, don't be dense." Tai scolded Kaz. "You think you're little Brotherhood is all so righteous and honorable? They would take this knowledge just like the people before us and sooner or later destroy this world over again and this time…we might not bounce back as a species."

"D-do you really think the Brotherhood would do something so horrible?" Lily asked.

"It's not just the Brotherhood, its man himself that tends to use power to suppress or destroy." Rex answered.

"That and I believe the Enclave still lives on in the ranks of the Brotherhood."

"Enclave?" Kaz questioned in shock.

"Enclave?" Lily asked as she looked at Kaz.

"They are the Brotherhood of Steel's sworn enemy, but we haven't seen a soldier of theirs or any activity of them in decades…"

"That's because they have seeded themselves in your organization and took key positions. They decided to wait awhile and prove themselves to gain power and rank. My father found this out, but then found that he could do nothing about it. It was too corrupt by the time he knew of the key players and assassination was impossible. So he did what he knew would be best and steal the key to be a place they call XS-1 and disappeared right under their noses."

"Well if that is true…then what do you do about it?"

"I'm gonna find this silo and make sure it's destroyed. Catch is…It's in the middle of the dead States, Nebraska to be exact, but there is an underground tunnel from New York to the silo."

"And you know all of this from where?"

"My dad was the master of stealth and recon, so he secured all the info that he knew before stealing the key." Tai looked at Kaz. "So know that you know…" Tai aimed his 9mm at Kaz. "You can't go back…alive at least."

"Tai!" Lily yelled as she stepped in front of Kaz. "He took you in when you needed help!"

"That doesn't matter, my life doesn't matter. It's about the key and now that he knows, he's either with us or dead." Tai cocked the hammer back. "And don't think that I won't shoot you too…"

"Tai…no…"

The moment was tense as nothing was said and Tai's finger slowly pulled. The hammer snapped forward and hit, but no shot was heard…the gun didn't fire.

"…Tryin' to bluff us?" Kaz said as he grinned.

Tai looked at his gun in confusion as he checked the clip to see all the bullets. He cocked the gun, ejecting a misfired round. "No…I keep this thing in perfect condition…It misfired."

"…What the fuck…You _were_ going to shoot…" Kaz was taken back from the attempt and looked at Lily. "You're the luckiest girl alive right now."

Tai slammed the clip back in and cocked it once more. "Misfires don't happen twice in a row." He took aim. "Take this as a time to reconsider Kaz…"

"I got you…I guess I'm in." Kaz said as he stepped from behind Lily. "But have fun trying to get to New York with hardly any gas for your truck and gas is a very valuable thing around nowadays."

"Yeah, well we need to figure something out." Tai said as he looked at Rex who was drinking his coffee. "Any ideas Rex?"

"Well," Rex began as he set his cup down. "Could guys could help out a few of the locals around here. Fox Chapel is the best place for gas. For now, you guys rest up and you two," Rex pointed at Lily and Tai. "Take a shower, you both smell like wasteland."

xxxx

It was another hot morning as Yates checked the 44. Browning MG on the buggy as Mighty Mighty Man by Roy Brown blared on the radio. "Yesss, I'm a real young man, a brand new twenty-five! Yeeeessss, I'm a real young man, a brand new twenty-five! Whoooa I'm willing, I'm able, I'm frantic, much alive!" He sang along as Kayla walked up with ammo.

"Favorite song?" She asked with a smile as she loaded the ammo into the ammo pouches.

"Roy Brown, one of my favorite artists of the pre-war era. The new music coming out now-a-days isn't some of my favorite…"

"What do you expect of people that come from nothing?"

"Well the MG looks good." Yates said as he took a swig of water. "Do we got everything?"

"Six gallons of water, six gallons of gas, enough rations for a few days and more than enough ammo for us. All that is just in case purposes, plus I got us an extra day off of duty."

"You sure do have some connections around here." Yates said as he lit up a cigarette.

"Yeah, well when you have this thing called a vagina it seems to work out to your benefit." Kayla said as she tucked her rifle in the holder next to the driver seat. She stepped inside of the single seat buggy and turned the engine over. The buggy sputtered to life as she gave it some gas.

Kayla pulled off down the road and out of the checkpoint area. "So what's the way again?" Kayla called out over the loud engine.

"We take route 22 to 66 and from 66 to 356 and that should take us right to Freeport!" Yates said with a puff as he looks at the barren hills.

"Okay!"

"So do you think Kaz is alright?"

"He's not your average Knight. He can handle damn near anything the wastes throw at him." Still Tai racked her mind with questions about what he was hiding and why the Brotherhood wanted it so bad. The commander was acting in a manner she had never seen before as well.

The road became a bit bumpy as the suspension on the buggy handled the cracked pavement well. A crunch and splat were heard as a radroach was smashed under the tires. "Oooo…Shit, I think I got some radroach guts on my pants." Yates called out.

Kayla laughed as she looked over and saw a few dead corpses on the side of the road. "Poor guys…" The wasteland was still a hostile place, even as the human civilization bounced back from the brink of extinction and fought countless battles against the new world and each other, the wastes were still more than enough to take a few weary lives. Even with the population increasing, war is inevitable.

It was a forty-five minute drive down 22 until they came to the turn onto 66. They came up to the turn, but found it blocked by a group of raiders who took notice to them coming. They had locked down the run down gas station on the corner "Great…" Kayla said as she slowed up to them.

"Now that there is a nice buggy…" One of the bigger raiders with a dusty pump shotgun said as he looked at Kayla and saw her armor and then looks at Yates. "Well I don't believe what I'm seein." Other raiders came up behind him. "It's Kevin Yates…the raider turned Knight."

"Let us through Hoss." Yates asked calmly.

"What's yer' business out here?"

"I'm visiting Glenn. I need a favor."

"Now why would Glenn do anything for someone who left him?"

"I'm not arguing with you about it, Hoss."

"Oh yea?" Hoss yelled. "Well I don't like how we let Brotherhood trash walk all over our territory like they damn well own it." Hoss pulled up his shotgun and aimed at Yates, but was met with the barrel of the 44.

"Don't do this Hoss…" Yates warned as more guns turned on him and Kayla.

"_Stop!" _Called out a female voice from the inside of the gas station. A woman emerged from the doorway as men dropped their aim on the two. The woman was a Latina and wore a stylish men's suit with black hair waving in the wind. "Kevin Yates can walk on our turf anytime with a nickname as legendary as 'sudden death'."

"Catalina," Yates said with a smile. "Long time no see."

"As to you my darling." Catalina said as she walked up. "Hoss, you need to understand that people like Yates are people that you strive to be…Sadly for you, you're too stupid to even talk to Glenn." The raiders laughed as Hoss looked down in embarrassment. "Now what is it that you are doing here hmmm?" She eyed Yates. "Miss me?"

Yates chuckled. "Ahhh, I do miss you, but I'm here on business. Some things went down and we need a favor from Glenn. It's something serious so I can't give details."

"Well I'll be back in Freeport by tonight. I'll radio ahead and let the other check points know you're coming." She looked at Hoss. "Hoss, open the gate. Then after that I want you to fetch us some food from the supermarket."

"B-But that place is crawling with radscorpions!"

"You have to earn a nickname better than John 'The Oaf' Hoss' if you wanna be respected around here." Catalina ordered as she looked at him. "Being big means nothing, you have to be smart and have skills to survive out here in the wastes because it can eat even the biggest of men."

"…Yes ma'am…" Hoss said as he walked off.

"Mackeral,"

Another raider stepped up. "Yes ma'am?"

"Go with Hoss, make sure he doesn't get himself killed."

"Yes ma'am!" The raider said as he left to catch up with Hoss.

"I see your position as commander hasn't changed." Yates said with a smile as he checked out her body.

"You know it." Catalina winked at him as the gate opened. "You're free to go."

"Thanks babe." Yates replied as Kayla pulled off onto 66 North.

Kayla was surprised to see that Yates had such connections. "Sudden Death?"

"I'm known throughout the raider society around here as that because I took out my targets from so far away, they never heard the shot. Groups of people would just see their buddy fall to the ground dead and not know what happened until another one dropped."

"I knew you were good, but geez Yates."

"It's about respect amongst us out here. That's why we can set up camp and hold a route down like 66 north off of 22 and be that close to the brotherhood. Sure we never did like them, but they didn't try to kick us out or mess with us, so there wasn't a problem." Yate's looked at the road he knew all too well. "You had to stand out as a unique survivalist around here to be a commander."

"And Catalina back there?"

"That girl is more dangerous than she looks." Yates remembered seeing her for the first time. "Catalina 'The Tommy" Lopez, quick, agile, intelligent, and deadly with her Thompson; she's the best female raider we have."

"So who are you guys under? Major raider clan that is."

"We're self-sustaining and we had offers, but Glenn turned them down. We live a semi-righteous life out here."

"You're still raiders."

"Exactly."

xxxx

Kaz tasted the fine coffee as he looked at Rex. Rex was a young, thin, greasy black male, but seemed very intelligent. "So how did you meet Tai?"

Rex was fixing his TV as he listened to the question. "Ahh…My father and his father were good friends. Tai's dad used to come over to get additions to his Stealth Armor."

"Recon Armor?"

Rex chuckled. "Only the regular Knights get Recon Armor, this Armor was meant for continuous stealth until disengaged. The Armor had the best cloaking tech and the nanofiber would consistently change the outside of the suit's temperature to keep it hidden from thermal."

"So what ammo type is it weak against?"

"That's was its only flaw." Rex said as he looked at Kaz. "It was weak against all weapons."

"What's the point of it then?"

"You don't understand that position of that Paladin." Rex said as he continued to work on the TV. "Tai's dad was the master of stealth and recon. Have fun tryin' to even put a bullet in him when you can't see him and can't find him and when you do find him, you're already dead."

"He was that good?"

"Duhhh….Master of stealth and recon? Paladin? Is any of this clickin' in that head of yours?" Rex lit up a cigarette. "What's your trade in the Brotherhood?"

"Demo specialist."

"There's one better than you that's a Paladin." Rex said with a puff. "Number seven, Paladin Jove is his name. He works with every explosive you can think of in ways you couldn't think of."

"I've heard of him…detonated a nuke in Ohio, taking out the Flatlanders. No one knows how he survived, but he did."

The TV suddenly clicked on and fuzzed to life to a redhead girl talking about the news from around the area. "And the brotherhood has offered a reward of 250,000 new dollars for information to the capture of a one Tai Mason. He is extremely dangerous and shouldn't be approached. If you see him please contact your nearest Brotherhood of Steel checkpoint."

Rex whistled as he started putting the TV back together. "That's a lot of money, but not enough for that key. Nothing is enough for that key."

Upstairs Lily watched the news report in worry. A quarter million of new dollars from the Brotherhood on Tai's head would make things a bit complicated, but they didn't have a picture of him so it's not like people knows what he looks like.

The guest room was surprising to Lily as it held a queen size bed with its own bathroom. Things were pretty clean around the large house like building. She was amazed that one man could live on his own with no visible protection, but then again she did meet Tai who survived well on his own.

The bathroom door opened with Tai walking out drying his hair. Lily looked at him and her eyes fell onto his naked body. He was perfectly built to her liking, but she turned around in embarrassment. "H-Hey! You don't just walk into a room naked with a girl in it!"

"You act like you've never seen another man naked…" Tai said as he walked over to the closet.

"And what if I haven't?" She said with a slight peek at his body.

"Then this is what it looks like." He said as he pulled out underwear and cargo pants.

"The news said there's a bounty of a quarter million new dollars out on your head."

"They'll just kill the person that knows anything about me for security reasons." Tai said as he slipped into the cargo pants and pulled out a long sleeve button up.

"Aren't you worried?"

"About what?"

"Rex…?"

Tai looked at Lily as if she were stupid. "Rex is a family friend of mine and knows that a quarter million or any amount of money isn't worth the rest of the world going through another atomic fallout."

"I-I'm…sorry…" Lily said as she looked down. "I didn't mean to…"

"Shut up already…" Tai said as he closed the closet. "You're safe now. I'm going into Fox Chapel today and I'm sure the town there will take you in."

"…Okay…"

Tai looked over and saw how his words hurt her and felt a sting of guilt inside. He sighed deeply "I'm sorry…" He said as she looked at him. "I'm used to being alone and I don't do well with people that I just meet. I only knew my parents, Rex and his father before he passed." Tai looked out the window at the river. "Staying with us is dangerous…Hell I almost killed you earlier."

"You were protecting something important. I understand." Lily thought of her brother. "My brother…I was important to him…"

"Well you'll be safe when we get to Fox Chapel and you can put this all behind you."

"…What if I want to stay here?"

"Not your call."

"Maybe I can help?"

Tai looked at her once again as if she was stupid. "You can't shoot a gun, you can't fight hand to hand, you have no explosives training, you can't repair anything, you have no skills with computers and you have zero survival skills. If anything up to this point all you have shown me is that you are extremely lucky."

"I have no one!"

"I know what that's like…" Tai said as he walked over to a table where his equipment sat. "Life becomes full of questions and meaningless thoughts. The only thing that matters is that you live on and maybe you'll find people in this town."

"What if I already like the people I found?"

Tai looked back at her. "But we're-"

"Amazing people." Lily said cutting him off. "I don't believe that fate has it for me to leave you. I feel like I'm here for a reason."

"So far you've caused me to lose my home, get captured…"

"You shouldn't have told them your story first of all and second I saved you back there by helping you escape."

Tai was stuck and Lily was right. All the training wasn't just to survive, hell Tai could have survived knowing half of the things he knew. His father knew that the day would come when the Brotherhood would find out and this was it. "Maybe you're right…" Tai turned his attention back to his equipment. "But I don't wanna see you get caught up in this. You could get killed."

"I faced death countless times…" Lily said as she looked down. "For some reason, I don't die or get hurt."

"I should take you to New Vegas. With your luck we could run the town."

Lily smiled as she looked at the doorway as Kaz entered. He was wearing his fatigues and smoking a cigarette. "Hello Kaz."

Kaz smiled at Lily. "Hey Lily." He turned his attention to Tai. "So what are we gonna call you, now that your name is all over the TV?"

"Richard, my father's name." Tai said as he adjusted the sight on his 9mm.

"Alright well that works."

"Where's your armor?"

"Your buddy Rex is making improvements on it. For him to know so much about our armors, he had to be part of the brotherhood…"

"His father was a slaver in the Pitt and as you know the Brotherhood of Steel has a nice pact with the slavers that allows them to keep slavery for the production and pay of making the armor you need. So Rex's father, being the mechanical wiz that he was started working on the armors. Rex was born there to a slave his father was fond of."

"So he learned from the core of it all."

"Yep and he's damn good at it too."

"So tell me, why don't you have any armor?"

"I'm not the one to wear the stuff." Tai said as he looked at Kaz. "All the maintenance with guns and other stuff that I had was enough. Add armor and I would be over worked. Hell I don't even use a pipboy."

"Armors do have their uses."

"True, but everything I do doesn't require armor. That and they do have their weaknesses as you can tell I can use to my advantage. Relying on your armor to what too many of you Knights make the mistake of doing."

Kaz sighed in knowing that Tai was right as he looked at Lily. "So what are we gonna do with you?"

"I'm staying." Lily replied.

"You know this is dangerous right?"

"Tai already went over it with me."

"Yeah man," Tai added. "She's insisting she stays."

Kaz shrugged his shoulders giving up on arguing with Lily as well. "Alrighty then."

xxxx

Kayla and Yates pulled up to the gates of Freeport after a forty minute drive. It seemed to be a well-guarded town as guards with sniper rifles aimed at them as they stopped to a group of raiders.

One of the raiders walked up and looked at Yates. "Glenn is expecting you." The raider looked back at the towers. "Let em' in!" He called out as the gates slowly opened with a rusty creek noise.

Kayla pulled into the town and was surprised to see so many rebuilt buildings and people. "Wow, I haven't been this far north of Pa…This is amazing."

"Yep." Yates said proudly. "From raiders to protection…mostly."

"Still raiders to me."

Children ran inside as they saw the two drive down the road. Looks from windows and porches told them enough that they weren't trusted by the locals. They soon pulled up to a large house that was guarded by two large raiders. Kayla killed the engine as she hopped out of the buggy with Yates.

Yates took the lead as they walked up. "Kevin Yates, I'm here to see Glenn." He said as the guards looked at each other and moved aside, letting them in.

The inside of the house was cool, nicely refurbished and full of guards and women all laughing and drunk. Cigarette smoke and jet could be smelled in the air as they walked up the stairs into a large study.

A silver haired young man sat on a comfy couch with his arms relaxed around two beautiful women. His blue eyes lit up as he saw Yates. "Well isn't it the devil himself!"

Yates smiled. "Still haven't changed one bit haven't you Glenn?"

"Ahhhh, but that I have dear friend! We don't have to rely on raiding that much anymore as this town has enough caps and new dollars moving around in it to have a self-sustaining economy!"

"That's why this place is booming." Kayla added.

"Ahhh and what is your name my dear?" Glenn asked as his eyes fell on Kayla.

"Kayla, Kayla Rose."

"And as beautiful as one." Glenn said with a smile.

"Cut the bullshit flattery." Kayla growled.

"And with the thorns to match."

"Easy Kayla." Yates said with a grin.

"Yeah…Just get what we need…" Kayla said as she walked off.

Glenn watched as she left. "Geez, are all female Knights up tight like that?"

Yates laughed. "Hahaha…ahhh…No, Kayla is just a very duty driven girl."

"I see." Glenn nodded at the table in front of him with drugs, cigarettes and booze on it. "You want anything to take the edge off bro? You know you don't have to pay."

Yates waved it off. "No thanks, I gave up the chems a while ago."

"Well what did you come for?"

"I need to use your com radio."

Glenn laughed. "That's it? Geez, I thought I had to kill someone or give you some money or something, but my radio? Alright then." Glenn stood up. "We got a com room right around the corner. Follow me." Glenn said as he walked out the room with Yates trailing. As they turned the corner Glenn saw Kayla and winked at her.

"Fuck. Off." Kayla growled.

"I'll be right back Kayla, don't kill anybody." Yates said as he walked past.

"Be quick or I just might…"

"Soooo…Yates." Glenn began. "How's the 'Knight life' treatin' ya?"

"Well it got a lot more interesting as of late."

"Which brought you here."

"In which it did."

"You know, I could use you back here Yates." Glenn said as he looked over his shoulder at Yates. "There's more money here and I'm sure I can cut you in on more than you make in Monroeville."

"I'll consider it. I've got two years left on my contract."

They stepped into a small room with com equipment and a few raiders. "Here we are. Have at it Yates."

Yates took a seat and placed thick headphones over his ears as he began to find Kaz's frequency.

xxxx

Rex was adding a faster processor into the computer system of Kaz's Recon Armor as the com started to catch a feed. "…What the hell?"

"…_K…Kaz….Kaz this is Yates are you there? Over." _

"Must be the Brotherhood…" Rex said as he took a puff of his cigarette. "Hey Kaz! You might wanna come down here!" He yelled up stairs.

"_Kaz, this is Yates are you there? Over." _

Kaz made his way down stairs quickly and over to Rex. "What's up? Somethin' wrong?"

"Someone named Yates is trying to raise you on your com."

"Yates!" Kaz quickly grabbed his com and responded. "This is Kaz, Yates where are you! You know the Brotherhood can find you!"

"_I'm using a coded freq from a friend's radio, so don't worry. What I am worried about is you. What the fuck is going on?" _

"Well…I don't know where to start…Let's just say the Enclave isn't dead according to Tai."

"_What? That makes no sense! How can you trust that kid? He killed a ton of Knights!" _

"With good reason, even though I hate to say that. He was defending himself and trying to get away. He says the Enclave have deeply rooted themselves in our ranks, ranks higher than us." Kaz lit up a cigarette. "He has a key…To some atomic silo underground filled with atomic weapons."

"…_Holy shit…" _

"Yeah, that's the reason the Brotherhood has such a high bounty on his head. Do they know about me?"

"_I'm not sure, I mean you were on shift today and didn't show up so I'm guessing they are calling you M.I.A." _

"And you?"

"_Well I'm with Kayla and we are off duty for the next four days." _

"Well…then you have a decision to make. Both of you."

"_And that is…?"_

"Join us or stay with the Brotherhood."

The silence was tense between them as Yates didn't respond for a few seconds.

"…_That's heavy man…"_

"Well you have four days. I'll keep my com on me."

"…_Right…Yates out." _

xxxx

Yates slowly took off the headset and set it down. A hard look set on his face as he looked at the floor. "You…okay buddy?" Glenn asked as he sat down next to him.

"I've got a friend in some deep shit…"

"Well I can help."

"Trust me…" Yates looked at Glenn. "This is bigger than anything you can fathom." Yates stood up as Glenn handed him a cigarette. "Thanks."

Glenn stood up as well, lighting Yates cigarette. "Look, I'll do what I can for you bro. You know we're friends no matter what."

Yates grinned. "It's good to know I got someone like you backin' me up."

"_You stupid bitch!" _A voice called out from the hallway. Yates and Glenn rushed out to see in the short distance a raider trying to wake up another raider whose noses was broken and another raider aiming his assault rifle at Kayla who returned with her 9mm to his forehead.

"WHOA! STOP!" Glenn yelled as he rushed down to the scene.

"Kayla! Back down!" Yates yelled as he followed Glenn.

They both stepped in between facing their respective comrades. "I told that fuckin' prick I wasn't interested and I don't like repeating myself." Kayla sneered.

"Fuck that bitch! No one does that to the Free Riders!" The enraged raider yelled over Glenn.

"Feel free to ride on this fuck face!" Kayla yelled back, flipping him off.

"Back off Gordon, that's an order." Glenn said as he looked into the raiders eyes. "Now…"

"…Fine." The raider said as he helped the other raider with their downed comrade.

Yates looked back and then at Kayla. "Kayla, you're here under my name, don't fuck it up!" Kayla crossed her arms and rolled her eyes. Yates looked back at Glenn. "Sorry about that."

"It's cool; she's just a tough chick. Take her down to Billy's bar for a drink or two, tell him throw it on my tab."

"Thanks Glenn." Yates said as he looked at Kayla. "Come on Kayla…We got some business to talk about."

xxxx

"Alright Tai, I'll order some weapons from a friend of mine, but this is all I got for now." Rex said as he lugged a bag onto a table in the living room.

Tai opened the bag and pulled out a pump shotgun, assault rifle and an SMG with a few grenades. A couple boxes of ammo were at the bottom, a couple for each respected weapon. "Not bad, it'll do for now." Tai said as he took the shotgun and tossed Kaz the rifle. "Hope the Knights are trained like Marines were."

"Marines?" Kaz said in confusion as he looked at Tai.

"United States Marines were a pre-war military branch that were the spearhead attackers of the U.S. Armed Forces. They were elite infantry and every single one of them before they were anything else, were riflemen first and foremost."

"Meaning…?"

Tai looked at Kaz. "Every last one of them was extremely accurate with a rifle." Tai tossed Lily the SMG which she barely caught. "Since you'll be with us, you'll need that."

"Uh….I-I don't know how to use this…" Lily timidly said as she had never used a gun before.

Tai sighed as he forgot she was green when it came to things of violence and war. He walked over with the clip and took the gun from her. "It's simple." He showed her the side of the gun. "See this switch?"

"Uh huh…"

Tai flipped the switch. "See the red dot? That means it's ready to fire. This is the safety. Always have it on and remember to disengage it when we are headed into danger or danger hits us. You put the clip in this way…" He placed the clip in the gun. "You'll hear and feel it click into place and then you cock the weapon." Tai pulled the cocking handle and let it snap back into place as he looked at her. "Rules of gun equate are; when dealing with your weapon you keep the barrel away from friendlies such as me, Kaz or Rex. Never look into the barrel, ever and when you point this at someone or something be ready to shoot to kill. Got it?"

"Y-Yeah…I'll try."

"I don't like trying…"

"…I will."

"Better." Tai said as he looked at Rex. "Alright then Rex, we're headed to Fox Chapel. Anything we should watch out for?"

"Well," Rex began with a pull of his cigarette. "The Hulton Bridge is where you wanna cross to get to Freeport road, the thing this that the bridge is guarded by raiders. They aren't friendly either…"

"How many do you think?" Kaz asked.

"Ten at most they have down there at a time, give or take a few men."

Kaz looked at Tai. "That's a lot of men."

"That ain't shit. We'll make it over no problem."

Lily's heart dropped into her stomach. "I…I think I should s-stay here…"

Tai looked at her. "Hey princess you wanted to stay with us, that means you have to fight as well…or at least draw their fire."

"So I'll just be a decoy?" She yelled back at Tai who cracked a smile.

"I'm just trying to make you useful, haha."

"That's not funny!" Lily scowled.

Rex tossed some gear at Lily's feet. "That's a tactical vest with a bullet proof coating on the inside that should be able to stop a 9mm, anything else…It might slow it down enough to prevent you from dying, but that's only if you're lucky. There are also some pants that should fit and some boots."

"T-Thanks…" Lily said as she picked the gear up and headed upstairs to get ready.

Tai made his way outside to his truck with Kaz and Rex behind him. "I hope that we get enough gas to get the hell outta here soon."

"And not catch the attention of the Brotherhood while we're at it..." Rex added as he looked at Kaz. "Welcome to the resistance."

xxxx

Commander Watson sat in his office going over papers of activity around the base. He had found out that it was Kaz that disappeared, probably helping the boy escape. "That boy might know about us, but it's too late for anyone to do anything…" Watson said to himself as he had yet to hear from Elder Azure.

Watson looked up as a man walked into his office dressed in mercenary gear and a rifle on his shoulder. Behind him followed three more mercs, two females and one male. "Ahhh, I've been expecting you McDevitt."

Ryan McDevitt was a 6'1 toned white male with long hair and blue eyes. His face held a look of rugged experience. "You mean to tell me that you have a small army at your disposal and you need us?"

"I need your expertise in a delicate matter involving a highly skilled boy and a demo expert of ours that has turned on us."

"Tai Mason right?" The brown skinned woman asked as Watson looked at her. She was a Samoan woman with beautiful hair and a perfect figure.

"That is right…uh…"

"Vale."

"Yes, Vale that is right. He's extremely dangerous even if unarmed."

"Well then that must mean the pay is good." An Italian man proclaimed. "And when the pay is good, Frankie Caputo don't mess around."

A smaller girl next to Frankie looked away shyly as Watson looked at her. "And what is your name?" He asked the timid girl. She was cute with a short haircut and small stature.

"R-Rin…" She replied softly.

"Randy Little," Ryan said proudly. "Or Lil Rin as we call her. She's the best marksman we've got."

Watson looked at her visor glasses. "Those are the 4.0 V.A.T.S., perfect for snipers." He looked at Ryan. "Well for now I have two possible connections to Tai's location through these two." Watson pushed forward on his desk two folders that Ryan grabbed up. "Their names are Kayla Rose and Kevin Yates. They were last seen heading east on 22. Reports indicate Yates used to be with a group of Raiders out that way."

"The Freeport Raiders." Vale said as she looked at the file in Ryan's hands. "They've been building Freeport up to be a substantial town around here. Glenn Sandridge leads that group and they aren't part of any large raider fraction, but still they pose a decent threat."

"Well we aren't just going to be able to walk right up in there." Ryan said as he flipped through the file of Kayla.

"I'll send a strike platoon of men to shake them up while you dig out the two. We need them alive to find out if they know anything on Tai."

"Then after that?" Frankie asked as he raised an eyebrow.

"Eliminate them."

"Done." Ryan said as he put the folders down.

So an attack on Freeport was in the making with one of the best mercenary groups around PA going up against Glenn's raiders, Yates and Kayla. The future wasn't looking bright for them…


End file.
